Some parents who send their
children to our Montessori early
childhood centre do the Halloween
thing and some donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t.

But whether you do or whether you
donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, most children enjoy the
chance to dress up in a costume at
some stage.

And seeing as this time of year is
when you get nearly every single
department store sending you
catalogues containing a selection of
costumes for Halloween,

this is a good time to talk about
fancy dress and costumes in general.

Sometimes, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fun to have a good
fancy dress costume handy for a
special party â&#x20AC;&#x201C; whether or not this
is a Halloween party.

Most children love the role-play
aspect of dressing up, and even
adults like fancy dress now and
again.

(Puzzling question for the day,
adults: is it worse to go to a
normal party in fancy dress by
mistake, or is it worse to go in
normal clothes to a fancy dress
party by mistake?)

But even at other times, children
love to play dressing up â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and
thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boys and girls.

Dressing up is a great stimulus for
fantasy play. By donning a costume,
children get to act out a role and
use their imaginations.

Sometimes, this fantasy play is
preparation for the adult world â&#x20AC;&#x201C;
they get to dress up as people from
various occupations and play at
having a real adult job.

This helps them to think about the
world around them and the roles
that people play in the community.

Just think about how a child plays
when he or she puts on a police
uniform.

Usually, they’re out to catch the
“bad guys” and put them in jail. Or
think about a child playing doctors
or builders or fire fighters…

or any other job that has a
recognizable uniform. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to
see that this fantasy play is helping
them become good citizens â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which
is one of the goals of Montessori
education.

But fantasy play using dress up
costumes isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always as realistic as
this.

Fantasy play using costumes also
gives children to explore a world of
the imagination and to really
stretch the â&#x20AC;&#x153;fantasyâ&#x20AC;? part.

This helps children develop their
creativity, if you want to put an
educational spin on what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re
doing.

And theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also having great fun!

And, depending on the costume,
playing dressing up also gives children
the chance to exercise their self-care
skills using zips, laces, buttons and
other fastenings.

And itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to start your own
collection of dressing up clothes at
home.

In best Montessori fashion, it’s best
to have these separate from
“regular” clothes, probably in a box
as a sort of “set”.

And remember to tidy them all up
and put them back in the box once
the play session is over.